A Summary of major Construction Projects

The vast majority of the work to improve railway lines, which impacts on the frequency and journey times info on the journey guides is completed over one Sat/Sun period.
So if you can't find a usual route or train departure online, it can be worth having a look at the links to the national construction work, which you will find below.
You may then have to translate what you'll find, but it can worth the effort to discover what's occurring and to glean whether you'll need to take a bus for part of the journey, or whether trains are instead being diverted.
Alterations to the usual service are often not particularly obvious when looking up the journey on a ticket booking service.

The information included below is a guide to the the more extensive construction projects which are impacting on train services for a week or more.
Therefore these are the projects which are good to be aware of if you're planning a rail pass itinerary and want to avoid any hassle, or are wondering why a typical connection isn't available on multiple dates.

These are the upcoming rail construction projects which;

• last more than a weekend, so also impact on Monday to Friday travel
• affect long-distance express trains
• result in trains being diverted, with longer journey times (which impacts on connections)
• Or, are being substituted by buses for part of the journey.

1: At Paris Gare de l'Est

Works taken place solely over weekends aren't usually included on this article, but this is major, because on multiple upcoming weekends TGVs won't be able to use Paris Gare de l'Est station, so they will be using Paris Nord instead.
The dates are;

• from the evening of February 3rd until the close of February 5th.
• From February 24 in the evening to February 27th in the early morning
• From May 12 in the evening to May 15 in the early morning
  For this May SNCF work has postponed the opening for sale of the TGV INOUI from the Paris < > North-East of France / Luxembourg / Germany service to one month ahead of the travel date.

1: TGVs from/to Paris Montparnasse

The lines used by the TGV trains on the 'Atlantique' routes between Paris and Bordeaux, Rennes and Toulouse are being disrupted at different construction sites during the first 6 months of 2023.

• From January 28 to 29th,, Poitiers station is not served by TGVS.
• Libourne station will not be served by TGVs from January 28 to 29th, from 6 to 8th May, as well as between 18 and 21st May.
• On February 4-5th the TGV Paris <> Quimper trains will have have Auray or Vannes as their origin/terminus station. Also Lorient station will not be served by TGVs.
• On 8 to 10th April, the TGVs on the Paris <> Brest and Paris <> Saint-Malo routes will have Laval as their origin/terminus station with a bus connection required between Laval and Rennes. Also TGVs on the Paris <> Quimper route will have an extended journey time of 30 minutes in both directions.
• From April 8 to 10th , from May 6 to 8th , from May 18 to 21st and May 27 and 29th, the TGVs on the Paris <> Toulouse route in both directions will have Agen or Bordeaux as their origin/terminus station. Replacement coaches will be set up between Agen and Toulouse and between Bordeaux and Toulouse. This work will also lead to the Bordeaux <> Marseille trains being turned around in Toulouse.
• Vannes station is not served from 18 to 21st May 2023 with the TGVs terminating in Rennes. Substitution coaches are set up with a service to Vannes, between Rennes and Lorient.
• Between 18 and 21st May and from 27 to 29th May 2023 , works are taking place near Massy-TGV. TGVs to the Centre-Val de Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions will leave and arrive at Paris-Austerlitz station, with an extension of the journey time of around 30 minutes. The TGVs bound for Brittany and the Pays de la Loire will run on a slower line, with an extension of the journey time by 1 hour. During this period, the number of trains in circulation will be reduced.

1: In the Berlin area

On multiple dates in January to March the calling patterns and arrival /departure times of the many of the long-distance trains which serve Berlin are being altered.
Though the majority of the works are being carried out at weekends.
The key impact of the works is that some trains won't be making their usual calls at Berlin-Gesundbrunnen and Berlin-Spandau stations due to diversions.
The diversions will enable these trains to still call at Berlin Hbf, but many departure and arrival times at that station will be later than usual.

2: Cologne <> Bonn

Works on the signaling systems is impacting on the route between Koln Hbf and Bonn Hbf/Bonn-Bad Godesberg during multiple periods of time in the first quarter of 2023.
The key impact of this work will that many of the long-distance trains which would normally call at Bonn Hbf will be diverted and won't be serving the city.
The work is being undertaken during these dates:

• from Friday, January 20, 9:00 pm to Friday, January 27, 9:00 pm
• from Friday, January 27, 9:00 pm to Friday, February 3, 10:00 pm
• from Friday, February 3, 9:00 p.m. to Friday, February 10, 10:00 pm
• from Friday, March 3, 9:00 pm to Friday, March 10, 9:00 pm

3: Cologne <> Koblenz from Friday, January 6, 4:00 pm to Friday, February 10, 10:00 pm

Station improvement work in the Remagen area is leading to the ICE, IC and EC trains which travel between Koln/Cologne and Koblenz being diverted during these dates.
Several of these trains will be calling at Kolm Messe/Deutz instead of at Koln hbf and will be calling at Bonn-Beuel station instead of at Bonn Hbf.
This diversion will add around 15 minutes to the journey times, so these trains will be departing from stations north of Koln/Cologne 15 mins earlier than their usual timings.

4: In the Frankfurt (Main) area
From Friday, January 6th at, 22:35 pm to February 2nd at 04:35 am
and
from Monday, February 13th to Friday, March 17th, all day long

During these times work is being undertaken on the railway between Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt (Main) hbf, the main city centre station and as a result the routing of many of the ICE services which typically travel this way are being altered.
Though some services will only be impacted between January 9th - 30th.
During this period:

• Some ICE services will be calling at Frankfurt (Main) Sud instead of at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf
• Some trains won't be calling at Mannheim Hbf
• Some trains won't be making their usual calls at Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport
• Some trains on the Weisbaden - Mainz - Frankfurt (Main) - Leipzig - Dresden route will be turning round at Frankfurt (Main) hbf.
• Some of the ICE trains between Frankfurt (Main) and both Amsterdam and Bruxelles will be turning round at Frankfurt Flughafen hbf.
  Not that not all routes are impacted throughout this entire period of time, so between January 6th and February 2nd, and February 13th to March 17th some services and routes will be operating according to their usual timetable.

5: Between Erfurt and Nürnberg, from January 10th to Friday, February 10th
Some ICE trains are canceled between Erfurt Hbf and Munich Hbf.

6: Between Munich and Ingolstadt from from Saturday, February 4th to Thursday, February 9th, all day long

Some ICE trains do not stop in Ingolstadt Hbf and other trains will be diverted on the longer route via Augsburg, so that they call there instead.
The trains which are diverted via Augsburg will arrive in Munich Hbf up to 30 minutes later or depart in Munich Hbf up to 30 minutes earlier.

7: The high speed line between between Kassel and Fulda
From April 1st until December 9th, a key section of the primary north<>south high-speed line in Germany is closed due to renewal works.
During the this time, the ICE trains travelling between Kassel and Fulda will be diverted on to the older classic line, which the high-speed route avoids.

The diverted and therefore slower services are the ICE trains on these routes:

• (Kiel) - Hamburg or Bremen - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - (Augsburg) - Munchen
• Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg - Linz - Wien (the daily ICE train)
  During this time these trains will mainly depart at their usual time and operate at their usual schedules between Munchen and Fulda when heading north; and between Hamburg/Bremen and Kassel when heading south, but the diversion will add around 60 mins to the journey time.
  As a result trains from Munchen will arrive at Kassel, Gottingen, Hannover, Bremen. Hamburg and destinations north of Hamburg around an hour later than the usual timetable.
  In the opposite direction heading south, trains from Bremen, Hamburg and Hannover, will arrive into Fulda, Wurzburg, Nurnberg and Munchen an hour later than the usual time.

However, in order to minimize disruption to arrival and departures at the extremities of the ICE routes, particularly in Switzerland, the long-standing routes of some ICE services are to be drastically altered from April 1st to December 9th.

1. ICE route 12 is the Berlin - Wolfsburg - Braunschweig - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe, Freiburg - Basel - Olten Bern - Interlaken route.
However, from April 1st the trains on this route will be turned around in Frankfurt (Main); and the trains will be taking an alternative route between Kassel and Frankfurt

Bern and Interlaken will be primarily served by ICE trains taking a Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe, Freiburg - Basel - Bern - Interlaken route.
So the current 1 x train per day on the Hamburg ↔ Interlaken route becomes a three trains per day service, with other departures being turned around in Basel.

2. ICE route 20 is the Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe, Freiburg - Basel - Zurich - Chur route, but from April 1st it will be having its Swiss destinations switched so that it takes over the Germany ↔ Olten - Bern - Interlaken service of route 12, instead of its calls in Zurich, Landquart and Chur.
It will also be around 45 mins slower on the part of the route between Hannover and Frankfurt (Main)

3. The Germany ↔ Zurich - Landquart - Chur service usually provided by route 20 is being covered by a major change to route 11.
Route 11 usually takes a Berlin - Leipzig - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg - München route.
However, from April 1st it will be taking a Berlin - Leipzig - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe, Freiburg - Basel - Zurich route.
As a result the Germany ↔ Zurich route will be covered by trains which won't be on a route impacted by the works on the high-speed line.
It also seems as though ICE trains won't be serving Landquart and Chur between April 1st and December 9th.

4 The usual Frankfurt (Main) ↔ München section of route 11 is to be covered by a change to route 22.
Instead of being a Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen - ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart route, it is already a
Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg - München route.

5. So that a direct service can be maintained between Berlin and Stuttgart, route 15 is to be extended beyond Frankfurt (Main) to provide a Berlin - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart route.

6. So that Kassel can maintain its hourly connection with Frankfurt (Main) hbf, despite that change to route 12, the route 13 service of Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Sud) - Frankfurt Flughafen becomes a Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) hbf route.

**8: Between Karlsruhe and Base ffrom Tuesday, April 11th to Saturday, April 15th, all day long
Some ICE trains are canceled between Karlsruhe Hbf/Offenburg/Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf and Basel Bad Bf/Basel SBB.
reason, due to construction work near Muellheim (Baden)

1: Between Leeds and Huddersfield /Halifax

From February 4th to 12th construction work is closing the railway line at Mirfield which is resulting in the following alterations

• The Manchester Piccadilly to Newcastle service won't be available
• Hull <> Liverpool services will be diverted to operate Hull <> Scarborough, with other trains available between Hull and Leeds
• The Liverpool <> Newcastle and Manchester Airport <> Redcar /Saltburn services will be diverted on to a longer route.

2: Between Guilford and Portsmouth

From February 11th to February 17th engineering work is taking place between Guildford and Petersfield which is on the route to Portsmouth, closing all lines.

On the Monday to Friday buses will replace trains between Guildford and Haslemere / Petersfield; on Saturday and Sunday buses will replace trains between Guildford and Petersfield.

3: Between Faversham and Dover

From February 11th to February 19th engineering work is taking place between Faversham and Dover Priory, closing all lines for 9 days.
As a result trains between London Victoria and Dover Priory will only run between London Victoria and Faversham.

Rail replacement buses will run between:

• Faversham and Dover Priory (calling at Canterbury East only).
• Canterbury East and Dover Priory (calling at all stations).
• Faversham and Canterbury East via Selling (minibus shuttle).

4: on the Cotswold main line

From February 20th to February 24th at 05:00 engineering work is taking place between Moreton-in-Marsh and Honeybourne until 05:00 on Friday, closing some lines.

Except where listed below, all trains between London Paddington and Worcester, Great Malvern, and hereford will start / terminate at Moreton-in-Marsh.

Rail replacement buses will run between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Foregate Street calling at Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Parkway and Worcester Shrub Hill. The last 3 buses each night will extend to Malvern Link and Great Malvern.

Monday to Thursday:

The 17:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington will start from Worcester Foregate Street, calling additionally at Worcester Shrub Hill.
The 19:28 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill service will extend to Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford.
The 21:50 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill service will call additionally at Didcot Parkway. It will then divert between Didcot Parkway and Worcester Shrub Hill (via Swindon and Chippenham, not calling). Rail connections are available between Didcot Parkway and Oxford. A rail replacement bus will run between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill calling at all stations.
The 22:50 London Paddington to Worcester Parkway service will terminate at Oxford. A rail replacement bus will run between Oxford and Worcester Parkway (calling at all stations).

Tuesday to Friday:

The 05:14 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington service will divert via Cheltenham Spa and Swindon (not calling). It will call additionally at Didcot Parkway (for customers to disembark only) before continuing to Reading and London Paddington.
The 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington service will divert via Cheltenham Spa and Swindon (not calling). It will call additionally at Didcot Parkway (for customers to disembark only) before continuing to Reading and London Paddington.
The 07:24 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington service will start from Hereford, calling at Ledbury, Colwall, Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.

5: on the West Coast route to Edinburgh and Glasgow

From Saturday March 4th to Sunday 19 March major work is taking place at Carstairs, closing all lines.

Avanti West Coast:
Trains to / from London Euston will start / terminate at Carlisle.
A limited service will operate between Carlisle and Glasgow Central via Dumfries.
Please note you may be required to change trains at Carlisle to complete your journey.

CrossCountry:
Buses will replace trains between Edinburgh and Motherwell.

ScotRail:
All ScotRail services via Carstairs will not run.
You are advised to use train services between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh via Shotts.

TransPennine Express:
Trains will start / terminate at Carlisle.
A replacement bus service will operate between Carlisle and Edinburgh and also between Lockerbie and Glasgow Central.

From June 11th to Sept 10th buses replace the trains between Sondrino and Tirano due to works on the line, which is being improved ahead of the 2026 Olympics, the skiing and boarding events of which are being staged in Bornio and Livigno, resort towns which will be linked to Tirano by bus services.

(1) Until July the railway is closed between Ourense and Monforte de Lemos in Galicia.
Buses are replacing trains over sections of the following long-distance routes:

• The Alvia trains on the Vigo/A Crouna - Barcelona routes between Ourense and Monforte
• The Alvia trains on the Madrid - Lugo route between Ourense and Lugo
• The MD trains on the Ourense - A Coruna route between Ourense and Monforte

1: Work is being undertaken between Lausanne and Vevey on multiple Saturdays, which is impacting on trains which take the Geneve - Lausanne - Vevey - Montreux -Martigny - Sion - Visp - Brig route.
The work is being undertaken on:
Saturday January 14, 2023 at 1 a.m. to Sunday January 15, 2023 at 4 a.m.
Saturday January 28, 2023 at 1 a.m. to Sunday January 29, 2023 at 4 a.m.
Saturday February 11, 2023 at 1 a.m. to Sunday February 12, 2023 at 4 a.m.
Saturday April 29, 2023 at 1 a.m. to Sunday April 30, 2023 at 4 a.m.
Saturday May 27, 2023 at 1 a.m. to Sunday May 28, 2023 at 4 a.m.

In most hours one of the typically two per hour trains, which travel the full length of the route, will be cancelled between between Vevey and Geneve.

2: One of the tunnels which trains from/to Basel use on routes which link the city to destinations to the east and south including, Luzern, Brig, Bern, Interlaken, Chur and Zurich, requires repairs
Hence the work, which is being carried over these weekends;

• Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th,
• Saturday, January 21st and Sunday, January 22nd,
• Saturday, January 28th and Sunday, January 29th
  is impacting on these routes and services:
• Route IC 3 Basel - Zurich - Chur, some trains in both directions are being turned around in Zurich and other trains between Basel and Zurich are being diverted on to a slower route.
• On route IC 61 Basel - Bern - Interlaken all departures are retimed and in some hours only one departure is available instead of two.
• It looks as though the departures on IC route 21 Basel - Luzern - Bellinzona - Lugano will be cancelled completely, which will require connections to be made in Zurich.

3: From February 27th to October 29th, reconstruction work is closing part of the route north of Buchs, which is used by trains on the Zurich main station - Zurich Airport - St Gallen - St Margrethen - Buchs - Landquart - Chur route, so buses will be substituting for the trains between Alstatten station and Buchs.

These are the upcoming major works on the railway lines, that will be impacting on international railway routes over sustained periods of time.

From Saturday, March 18th, 4:30 a.m. to Friday, March 31st, 4:30 am several TGV and ICE trains are canceled between Mannheim Hbf and Frankfurt (Main) Hbf.
Other TGV and ICE trains will arrive at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf up to 15 minutes later or depart at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf up to 15 minutes earlier.

Over the weekends of February 18/19th , February 25/26th, March 4/5th , March 11/12th and March 18/19th no TGVs will be serving Luxembourg station, the trains will be substituted by buses between Luxembourg and Metz or Thionville.

Due to construction work in Switzerland between Lausanne and Vevey, on these Saturdays

• January 14, 2023
• Saturday January 28, 2023
• Saturday February 11, 2023
• Saturday April 29, 2023
• Saturday May 27, 2023
  half of the usual service on the Geneve - Lausanne ↔ Milano route will be cancelled.
  The affected trains are those which depart Milano Centrale at 08:20 and 13;20 and those which depart from Geneve at 13:39 and 18:39 and from Lausanne at 14:15 and 19:15.

The Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nurnberg ↔ Linz - Wien/Vienna service will be cancelled from April 1st to December 9th, due to the maintenance work on the high speed line in Germany and in its place there will be an additional Dortmund - Koln - Bonn - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nurnberg ↔ Linz - Wien/Vienna service.

During these weekends;

• Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th,
• Saturday, January 21st and Sunday, January 22nd,
• Saturday, January 28th and Sunday, January 29th
  most of the Lyria train services on the Paris - Basel - Zurich route are being turned around in Basel.

Construction work between Basel and Olten in Switzerland, which is being carried over these weekends;

• Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th,
• Saturday, January 21st and Sunday, January 22nd,
• Saturday, January 28th and Sunday, January 29th
  is seemingly causing the trains which take the Basel - Luzern - Bellinzona - Lugano - Milano and the Basel - Bern - Brig - Stresa - Milano route to be cancelled.

From February 25th to March 31st the trains on the Amsterdam - Utrecht ↔ Cologne - Frankfurt or Basel routes are being re-routed on the section of the journey between Arnhem and Dusseldorf.
As a result these trains won't be making their usual station calls in Duisburg and Oberhausen, with the station calls in Dusseldorf and after, being around 30 mins later than usual.
Heading to The Netherlands, the departure times at German stations will be around 30mins earlier than usual.

Though from April 17th to June 30th it SEEMS that these trains will only operate between Amsterdam and Arnhem.